Virginia Tech (9-11, 1-6) travels down the road into North Carolina for a 2:00pm tip-off with the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest (9-12, 1-7). Both teams are looking for some momentum as first year coaches Buzz Williams and Danny Manning guide very young ball clubs as they head into February.
Hokies travel to Winston-Salem to face Demon Deacons: Tech, Wake Forest in a 2 p.m. tip on regional sports networks http://t.co/QGuIaytM0R
— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) January 30, 2015
Wake Forest is coming off of a four game losing streak, which does not look good on paper, but the Deacs had the chance to win the last two as they feel at the buzzer to Clemson and in 2OTs against Florida State.
The Deacs are led by Codi Miller-McIntyre, a junior guard, who is averaging 14 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game. Miller-McIntyre's running partner is junior forwards Devin Thomas who is averaging a double-double on the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds per contest. Both of these 3rd-year players will look to attack a thin Virginia Tech frontline on Saturday afternoon.
Behind Adam Smith's 26 pts, VT had 55 points off the bench in its win over Pitt - the most by an ACC team this yr pic.twitter.com/h3YYNp4aEU
— Jimmy Robertson (@jrobIHS) January 28, 2015
Virginia Tech is coming off of it's first ACC win of the season as they beat Pitt 70-67 in an overtime thriller this past week. The Hokies were able to put some pressure on the Panthers to begin both halves which is critical if you want to be in games late in the second half. The Hokies were paced by Adam Smith and Malik Muller who combined for 48 points in two very impressive shooting performances.
Virginia Tech has been without Justin Bibbs, but is hopeful that he will return soon. He is being reevaluated daily as to when it is 100% save for him to return.
Keys to Victory against Wake:
- Play hard for 40 minutes, if you get the lead work like crazy to keep it because the Deacs are streaky and will take advantage of easy point opportunities.
- Team-rebound the basketball. Wake Forest averages 40 rebounds per game, which puts them in the top-10 nationally, so make sure you box out and get the ball.
- Once you get the ball, push it. If the Hokies can get into transition off of missed shot attempts then they can dictate the pace of this game.
Television
RSN - Tim Brando & Jason Capel
Radio
Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network - Bill Roth & Mike Burnop